My Little House - A finished Quilt

Happy happy!   That is how I feel.  I have completed my art quilt from Laura Wasilowski's class on Craftsy.  It is bound and even has a rod pocket on it.

This little wall quilt measures 12 1/2"  by 13 3/4 inches. All of the fabrics are hand dyed. The sky is the only one that I dyed myself.  It is actually a printed fabric that I over-dyed.  I like a pink sky, don't you?

So this is my finish for this week.  I will be linking it up with Richard and Tanya's blog for Link A Finish Friday once that is posted on their blog.

Have a wonderful weekend and remember the real reason for Memorial Day.    Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Peace be with you,

New Classes

Just a quick post to let you know that there are some interesting new classes on Craftsy.


Marcy and Katherine Tilton are teaching The Ultimate T-Shirt: Fitting and Construction. So if you want to learn to make your own t-shirts that fit perfectly, this class is ideal for you.

Joe Cunningham is teaching Pattern-Free Quiltmaking.  This class is about making your own spontaneous designs.  If you want to make a one of a kind quilt and increase your quilting repertoire this class is for you.

If you are a knitter then Stephen West's class - Shawlscapes will teach you techniques to create your own shawl designs. Alternately,  you will learn Stephen's pattern and can make his Boneyard shawl.

There are a variety of other classes on Craftsy also.  There is sure to be one that appeals to your crafty nature.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013

I have decided to enter my quilt "Happy Days Ahead" in the Bloggers Quilt Festival in the Bed Quilt Category.  I have to say that I have seen some amazing quilts in this category. I don't expect to win, but if I do it would be great.
This is a quilt that I designed and made for a commission. The colors were chosen using the favorite colors of the girl who was set to receive it.  I have to say that the color combination is now among my favorites. The quilt measures 92" by 70"
I also pieced the back and it fits quite well in the Modern Quilt Movement in my opinion.
So here it is both front and back for you to see and enjoy.

I free motion quilted this one on my domestic machine.  My free motion skills have improved since then thanks to Leah Day's Class on Craftsy.  But this was made prior to taking the class.
I hope you enjoy seeing my quilt and if you wish to nominate it for viewer's choice, I would be totally honored.

Art Quilting Fun

Saturday I started on  fun little art quilt.  It is not my design, but it is a part of the learning process.  I am taking Hand Stitched Collage Quilts on Craftsy.  I started it soon after the class was announced.  But I just started MAKING one of the projects. This one is called "The House in the Valley."    I got the top fused together onto the batting.  At that point I took a picture:

I have started on the hand stitching to add embellishment but I only have a little bit done.  Let me show you what I did to the house.

I used an Aurifil 12 wool thread to outline the windows and an Aurifil 12 Mako for the cross pieces. The other threads are hand dyed that I have bought various places.

I am starting to add the seed stitches in the tree to give it some texture now.

That thread going off the top of the picture is attached to my needle. This thread is one that I won from Laura Wasilowski on her blog. She "mis-dyed" some thread and I was lucky enough to get some.  I think it goes great with my tree fabric.

There is a television commercial that I have seen somewhere (not at home since I only have Netflix) but nevertheless I have seen it.  The tagline is "Never Stop Learning."  That is my goal.  I love learning new things.

Okay one confession about this piece. I changed some of the colors to make it a little more mine AND because I didn't have the exact colors Laura suggested.  But hey, it is my quilt and so I get to do that.

Project Update & Want to take a FREE Craftsy Class?

A couple of people said they wanted to see my snack mat when it is finished.  It isn't finished since I don't have a binding on it yet.  But it is ready for the binding!   So here are a couple of pictures of it.

The angle shot below shows the quilting a little better.

I did both free motion and straight line quilting on this.  It is the most densely quilted thing I have ever made!

I also just had to make a bowl cozy since I kept seeing them everywhere on blogs.  I used the instructions here.  I will show it to you with the bowl.

And with the bowl removed:

And since they are reversible - the other way:

Can you believe I coordinated the fabrics?

Now About That FREE Class:

Craftsy is offering a free class to new users.  So if you have never taken a class from Craftsy,  This is your big opportunity. There will be several choices of free classes.   There are free classes on Sewing, Quilting, Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Jewelry Making, Cake Decorating and more.
Just click the picture to get there. If  you use my link to join, I do get a little bit of credit. (Thank you!)
I am hoping that this will be open by the time this post goes live.  If not, come back later this evening or tomorrow to get your free class - I believe it goes live tomorrow.